New Delhi: Former Lok Sabha member Karuna Shukla, the niece of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who quit the BJP last year, will join Congress on Thursday.

In an embarrassment to the BJP ahead of Lok Sabha elections, Shukla met Congress president Sonia Gandhi here on Wednesday and is expected to be welcomed into the party fold at the Congress headquarters today.

Shukla had resigned from the BJP last year, alleging she was being “continuously neglected” by senior leaders.

Shukla, also a former national president of BJP Mahila Morcha, sent her resignation to party chief Rajnath Singh ahead of Assembly Elections in Chhattisgarh.

Shukla had said she was not consulted on party affairs for the last few years and BJP president Rajnath Singh and national general secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh JP Nadda had even refused to grant her audience.